The removal of the active nest, approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources, has drawn criticism from naturalists and the biologist who recommended against the move. 0

"Usually, the ministry makes better decisions. This is a special case here. I wish I had more sway." - Jody Allair, who heads the Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Program for Bird Studies Canada. (QMI Agency file photo)

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A rare eagle’s nest comes down in Southwestern Ontario to make way for a wind farm — with the province’s blessing. Beavers find their watery London home trumped, ironically, by water-drainage needs. Jonathan Sher and Ian Gillespie examine two tales of wildlife under urban pressure.

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They can hold their breath for 15 minutes, helped fuel the exploration of Canada and adorn our nickels.

But our love for the beaver can sour when the furry rodent floods a farmer’s field or chews down a clump of trees.

“We love ‘em,” says Tom Purdy. “Until that happens.”

Purdy, who worked as a natural heritage education and resource management supervisor at Pinery Provincial Park before retiring, will kick off a six-part series of Nature in the City lectures at London’s Central Library on Tuesday with an illustrated presentation about this polarizing creature.

“They’re so amazing and unique,” says Purdy. “The biggest (beaver) dam we know is in Wood Buffalo National Park (in Alberta), and it’s over a kilometre long and it’s longer than the Hoover Dam. That’s pretty neat from an animal that weighs 40 to 60 pounds.”

But “neat” can quickly turn to “nuisance.”

That’s what recently happened at the Stanton drain in northwest London when the presence of a beaver lodge blocked expansion of the human-made channel designed to drain storm-­management ponds serving nearby development.

Although some local environmentalists opposed moving the beavers, those animals were moved to the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Rosseau, near Parry Sound, for the winter and will be transferred to the Munsee-Delaware First Nation reserve this spring.

Beavers can ignite strong emotions. I learned that about two years ago when I wrote a column about a licensed trapper who has removed beavers — in lethal fashion — for both private landowners and the City of London for nearly 20 years.

After writing about the trapper, I received a number of angry letters and e-mails, including one from a young former Londoner who, borrowing a page from my description of the lethal beaver traps, wrote that she’d like to see me “trap yourself and find out how it feels to have your vertebrae crushed slowly and painfully while you slip into an irreversible state of unconsciousness.”

Although Purdy acknowledges that intervention is warranted in some situations, he says in most cases we can coexist with the flat-tailed chewer.

“(Trapping) should be a last resort,” he says. “There are lots of other strategies that should be tried first.”

Purdy points out that beaver dams, which can often cause damaging flooding, can be circumvented by “beaver baffles” or “beaver deceivers.” These devices feature underwater pipes that alleviate flooding while still preserving the dam, which beavers use to maintain a safe watery route to food.

And while an average colony of four to six beavers can decimate about 200 trees a year (which are used for food and shelter), Purdy says there are ways to coat tree trunks with a mixture of sand and acrylic paint that discourages beavers from chewing them.

“We should try to live with them,” he says. “I think a lot of people like to know they’re there.”

Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner is a big fan of renewable energy, but even he says the province should pay more heed to the impact of turbines on wildlife.

Gord Miller is pushing for three changes — laid out in his latest annual report — he hopes will gain traction once political uncertainty at Queen’s Park is lifted:

More funding and experts to measure the cumulative effect of wind farms on wildlife, especially migratory birds and bats.

Ban new wind farms in Ontario’s 70 “important bird areas.”

Protect migratory bats, not just those that stay put.

Miller acknowledges his proposal raises concerns among wind energy advocates because important bird areas tend to be near lakes, which is also ideal for wind farms. “That’s why we are seeing conflicts there,” he said.

His concerns are shared by waterfowl biologist Scott Petrie, who notes Ontario has already lost as much as 90% of is coastal wetlands. “They’re pushing birds out of habitats,” he said of wind farms.